A coroner has called for major improvements at Bridlington Hospital after the death of a man who waited seven days for an urgent brain scan.

Doctors said Russell Ackroyd, 40, of Chapel Street, Bridlington, would not have died if he had been sent for a CT scan within 24 hours.

The former steelworker was taken to Bridlington Hospital, where there was no CT scanner, no resident anaesthetist, and no accident and emergency unit, with a fractured skull, on 13 December 2000.

Dr Krishna Murthy told the inquest he examined him and wanted to send the father-of-two for a scan because he may have fallen and banged his head.

We accept the expert opinion that had the scan been carried out earlier, the outcome may well have been different Dr Ian Holland, medical director of the Scarborough and North East Yorkshire Trust

Neurosurgeons in Hull, 38 miles away, advised the scan should be done the next day.

Mr Ackroyd wandered around the Bridlington wards for a week waiting for a scan until he finally collapsed in his bed.

He was eventually transferred to Hull by ambulance.

A scan picked up the intra-cranial bleed - but Mr Ackroyd died on Christmas Eve four days after surgery

Recording a verdict of accidental death, coroner Geoffrey Saul said the trust should look at staffing levels, training and whether patients should be admitted to a hospital without a CT scanner.

He said if patients with head injuries are admitted then they should be given scans far more quickly.

Staffing review

He also expressed concern that Mr Ackroyd was transferred 38 miles in the back of an ambulance without an anaesthetist to intubate him.

After the inquest, Dr Ian Holland, the medical director of the Scarborough and North East Yorkshire Trust, said: "We are only too aware that the care did not reach the required standard.

"We accept the expert opinion that had the scan been carried out earlier, the outcome may well have been different."

He said the trust was now reviewing staffing levels, and working to solve the problems of anaesthetic cover at Bridlington Hospital.